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SS8H3 TSW analyze the role of Georgia in the American Revolution.
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SS8H3TSW analyze the role of Georgia in the American Revolution.
Explain the immediate and long-term causes of the American Revolution and their impact on Georgia; include the French and Indian War (i.e., Seven Years War), Proclamation of 1763, Stamp Act, Intolerable Acts, and the Declaration of Independence.
The French and Indian War(Seven Years’ War)The French and Indian War was the result of disputes between France and Great Britain that had been going on for almost 65 years.
The causes of the 9-year war that began in 1754 were greed and fear. The greed was a hope to capture the most land in the New World and control the treasures of the territory.
With the exception of population differences in America, France and Great Britain were well-matched. The British Navy was the most powerful in the world, but France had the stronger army.
Great Britain has a strong alliance with the 6 tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy, but the French were trading partners with many of the western tribes.
The French had more experienced military leadership and, unlike the British colonists, the French settlers didn’t argue among themselves.
The tension between France and Great Britain increased because both claimed the area of the Ohio River Valley. This frontier region was a huge area of about 200,000 sq. miles, aboutthe size of France.
British traders had formed profitable agreements with many tribes that had formerly traded only with the French.
In 1753, Virginia’s governor sent a young George Washington to warn the French that the Ohio River Valley didn’t belong to them and to stop building forts there. Those demands were ignored.
The following year, Gov. Dinwiddie again sent Washington to the French with a message. This time, however, Washington did not go alone.
The 22-year old Washington led 150 Virginia militia troops to Fort Duqesne [doo-kane] near the present-day Pittsburgh. Washington’s men set up a crude, round stockade of wooden stakes.
Washington’s men named this round stockade Fort Necessity. After a scout reported about 30 French soldiers in a nearby camp, Washington’s men attacked, killing 10 and forcing the rest to surrender.
As expected, the French attacked Fort Necessity a short time later. On July 3, 1754, severely outnumbered and having lost 1/3 of its troops, Washington had no choice by to surrender to the French.
The war had begun. It soon spread to Europe where it was known as the Seven Years’ War.
The first few years of the war in America consisted of a series of disappointing losses for the British and their colonies. As the war progressed, Great Britain continued to suffer losses both in the colonies and in Europe.
William Pitt was put in charge of the war effort. He used the strength of the British Navy and was able to capture the key French Canadian cities of Quebec and Montreal.
A year later, Washington again led troops to Fort Duquesne; this time he was victorious. The frontier was made safe and came under British control.
Georgia didn’t take part in the war, but it was helped by the war. The Treaty of Paris of 1763, which formally ended the war, set Georgia’s western boundary at the Mississippi River.
Results of the French & Indian War*British gained control of Canada; still an ally & trading partner today*Ohio River Valley & all lands east of the Mississippi River [Western Frontier] was opened for settlement for the other colonies.
*Great Britain obtained Florida from Spain who’d been France’s ally during the war.*France gave the Louisiana Territory to Spain.*After 150 years of colonization, France lost all its land in the area.
*Perhaps most importantly, the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution. After the war, Great Britain found itself left with a huge war debt.To the British, it seemed only logical to tax the colonists to cover those expenses.
Proclamation of 1763King George III issued this proclamation shortly after the end of the French & Indian War. It forbade the colonists to settle west of the Appalachian Mountains.
This proclamation also moved Georgia’s southern boundary to the St. Marys River. At the same time, the Cherokee and Creek gave up all lands between the Ogeechee and Savannah Rivers north of Augusta. They also gave up the coastal land south of the Altamaha River.
When the land came under Georgia’s control, settlers began to migrate to the colony. The new boundaries were important to Georgia’s growth.
Not only did the new land provide water access for future shipping, but it also provided good farmland and dense forests with timber and naval stores resources.
Stamp ActIn 1765, the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act in an attempt to raise money to pay for the French and Indian War.This act placed a tax on newspapers, legal documents, and licenses.
A Stamp Act Congress met in Boston, Massachusetts to speak against the tax. The Georgia Colonial Assembly wasn’t in session at the time, so it didn’t send a representative to the Stamp Act Congress.
On the day before the tax went into effect, a few Georgia citizens showed their dislike of the Stamp Act by burning an effigy (likeness) of the stamp master in the streets of Savannah.
On November 6, a group of Georgians came to together to oppose the Stamp Act. They called themselves the Liberty Boys.
They were a part of a larger group, the Sons of Liberty, whose acts came to represent the spirit of the Revolution.
Although the taxes didn’t bother the average Georgian very much, the colony felt their effect. Georgia was the only colony that ever sold the stamps.
Only a few stamps were sold, but Georgia’s neighbors in South Carolina, who were more directly effected, spoke out withanger against it.
Georgia’s only newspaper, The Georgia Gazette, had to stop printing until the Stamp Act was repealed a year later.
To punish the colonists of Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party, Parliament enacted four laws which because of their harshnessbecame known as“ The Intolerable Acts.”
One law closed the port of Boston until the citizens of Massachusetts paid for the tea.
Under another law, Massachusetts colonists couldn’t have a town meeting without the agreement of the governor who was also commander of the British troops.
The operation of the court system was changed so that any British official who committed capital crimes would be tried in Great Britain rather than in the colonies.
Finally, the Quartering Act required that the citizens of all colonies house and feed British soldiers at their own expense.
Although the laws were aimed at Massachusetts, representatives of all the colonies except Georgia gathered in Philadelphia to protest them.
On September 5, 1774, the delegates organized a Continental Congress.
That group of delegates agreed to stop all trade with Great Britain and urged each colony to set up committees of safety. These committees would enforce the boycott.
Anti-British sentiment was growing in Georgia, but he people still seemed to care more about which parish would have the most power in the Georgia Assembly.
Because the colony still depended on Great Britain, the assembly chose not to send a delegate to the Continental Congress. However, in August 1774, a group of Georgians met to discuss their reaction to the Intolerable Acts.
After talking for a long time, they decided to send a resolution to Parliament demanding that citizens of the thirteen colonies have the same rights as British citizens living in Great Britain.
The colonists insisted that the Intolerable Acts didn’t agree with the “Rights and Privileges of an Englishman.”
The assembly also decided to have a meeting in Savannah, Georgia to talk about the growing unhappiness over their ties with Great Britain.
